The Mystery of the Magenta Cat Food
September 4, 2008 7:30 AM   Subscribe

Why would my cat's wet food suddenly be turning magenta when exposed to air?

My cat has been on Royal Canin's Renal Care pouches for 7 years, due to a liver condition. I usually feed him in the morning before I leave for work, and there's always some left over in the bowl when I get home that I toss before washing the bowl and giving him more food. A few weeks ago, I noticed that when I got home from work, the food, which was not completely dried out, was magenta. On Tuesday and yesterday, the same thing happened. This has happened using two different bowls (one glass, one ceramic).

I called Royal Canin today, and they seemed dismissive, and just said that there has been no formula changes, and that the food has no artificial colors and color changes are to be expected once the food has been exposed to air. I tried to emphasize that the food was MAGENTA, and this had never happened before, but the CSR just repeated that color changes were to be expected.

Around the time of the first magenta-ing, I did notice that Miles didn't seem to be eating as much. I leave Innova Senior dry food out for both my cats all day, so he does have other food available.

In March of 2006, Royal Canin recalled this particular brand of cat food because of increased amounts of vitamin D, which caused hypercalcemia and caused poor Miles to lose about a third of his body weight in two months. Of course I did ask the CSR if there was any recall, and she assured me that there was not, but that explains why I'm a little bit panicky about this.

I do have a call in to my vet, but I don't know that Royal Canin will tell them anything different than they told me.
posted by amarynth to Pets & Animals (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
what kind of bowl are you using - what is it made of?
posted by watercarrier at 8:22 AM on September 4, 2008


oh scratch that - just re-read.....
posted by watercarrier at 8:22 AM on September 4, 2008


The only thing I can think of - is that they're using beet pulp in the mixture for coloring or flavor. That said - what color is your kitty's poop?
posted by watercarrier at 8:24 AM on September 4, 2008


I can't answer your question but I suggest you keep a record of the batch number/barcode numbers of this particular lot of food and formally report this to the manufacturers in writing. Include what you have told us and of course the batch numbers. You might also wish to send in the information to the Itchmo which had an important role in reporting last year's pet food recalls. In my experience the help lines of manufacturers aren't always clued up about ingredients. Then discuss with your vet a suitable alternative to this brand.
posted by Arqa at 9:26 AM on September 4, 2008


Response by poster: I heard back from the vet's office. They spoke to someone on the vet's helpline for RC, and they just said that they don't recommend that food be left out for more than an hour, which still doesn't explain why this has never happened before. They also said that the all of the ingredients are tested before making the food and then the completed product is tested -- I think after the melamine thing last year all of the pet food manufacturers have really stepped up testing (I know that before their recall in 2006 RC didn't do feeding trials, and I'm not sure if they do now). They said that I could return that case of food to the vet and get a new case, which I'll do, and see if his appetite gets any better. I think this weekend, I'm going to open up a bunch of pouches, set them out in bowls and take pictures at regular intervals, then write up something and send it to RC and Itchmo (thanks, Arqa!).

watercarrier, beet pulp is not listed in the ingredients.
posted by amarynth at 9:59 AM on September 4, 2008


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